The Justice Arumugasamy Commission, which probed the circumstances surrounding late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's death, has recommended action against her confidante VK Sasikala among others and the matter will be discussed with legal experts, the Tamil Nadu government said on Monday, August 29. The state cabinet, which met under Chief Minister MK Stalin, also decided to place the panel report before the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
According to an official release, the report that went into aspects including the late Chief Minister's hospitalisation on September 22, 2016 and the treatment provided to her, was discussed in detail at the cabinet meeting, two days after Justice Arumugasamy submitted it to CM Stalin. "The cabinet has decided to take the opinion of legal experts on the (Commission) report recommending ordering government enquiry against (those) including VK Sasikala, Sivakumar, the then Health Minister C Vijayabaskar and the then Chief Secretary Rama Mohana Rao and take due action, and after doing so, place it before the Tamil Nadu Assembly with a report," it said.
Jayalalithaa died on December 5, 2016, and the Arumugasamy Commission of Inquiry, constituted by the previous AIADMK government, commenced its hearing nearly a year later after her death, on November 22, 2017. Justice Arumugasamy is a retired judge of the Madras High Court.
During the meeting on Monday, the cabinet also discussed the report of the Justice Aruna Jagadeesan Commission, which probed the May 22, 2018 firing on anti-Sterlite protesters at Tuticorin, in which 13 persons were killed.
The release said that the recommendations of the report, submitted to the state government in May this year, like departmental action against the then District Collector and 17 police officials, among others have been sent to the respective departments and pending with them, "which the cabinet took note of." After action by the respective departments, the report will be placed before the Assembly, the release added. The cabinet also discussed, in detail, a law to ban online games such as Rummy, it said.